Before they became UNDERTOW, these Seattle-area highschoolers were blasting out raw yet earnest, straight-ahead (pun semi-intended) scissor-beat hardcore before they could even drive, with this demo and a comp track as their sole recorded output. They played shows around Washington with fellow Seattle straightedgers BROTHERHOOD, who also encouraged them as a band and likely served as a musical influence up to a point, though the speed of FALSE LIBERTY probably left a bigger mark on their sound (albeit minus the crossover air), and of course with melodies, riffs, lyrics, and vocal patterns in line with the then-recently-emerged youth crew genre. Most of REFUSE’s song structures are fairly simple and repetitive: brief intros, fast verses, elongated and often vocalless breakdowns, sometimes a delay effect on the vocals, and drums that are often a blur to the point that they lack definition. but I dunno if any other band with X’d up hands was playing this fast in 1989. Refuse—the label—has always done a great job with the packaging and contextualization of the unearthed recordings that they put out into the world, and here you get preserved interviews, ads, reviews, flyers and other ephemera. While to me this demo is ultimately more of a historical curiosity than something essential, for anyone like myself who is interested in the less-treaded corners of Washington State’s punk and hardcore history (and especially that which isn’t being billed as only important due to being some grunge guy’s early punk band), I’d suggest checking it out.
